


Pastime

by Salty_but_Sweet



Category: Halo (Video Games) & Related Fandoms
Genre: Artificial Human!Cortana, Cross-Posted on FanFiction.Net, Gen, I Can't Believe I Wrote This
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-19
Updated: 2018-08-19
Packaged: 2019-06-26 06:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 579
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15657846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salty_but_Sweet/pseuds/Salty_but_Sweet
Summary: Noun.- An activity that someone does regularly for enjoyment rather than work; a hobby.





	Pastime

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Halo belongs to Bungie & 343i.

"Cortana a word, will you?"

The violet-haired woman in question raised her gaze to look at the soon to be Lieutenant Commander but didn't stop her work with the station's defense systems.

The other woman's intimidating stance didn't falter a millimeter, expecting nothing but a compliant answer.

"Fine." Cortana responded, dragging the ending out, before following Miranda into a less crowded area of the Cairo Station. "Is something wrong?"

The unhurried and deliberately unworried tone seemed to tense the atmosphere further.

"You know what's wrong." The older woman hissed. "Do you know what I heard just a few minutes ago? You slept with him. You slept with the damn Chief."

_Shit._

"And you believe every half-assed rumor that goes on around here?" The shorter of the two women whispered back, albeit with much less volume than the other.

"Cortana." Miranda shushed with a half-way there masked look of anger.

"Even if it happened to be true, it's none of anyone's business. --And it's not **the** Chief." Cortana responded almost as an afterthought.

"Look… I'd be the first to be happy about if you both found someone to mess around with, but we are at war, and with one of humanity's most critical battles presumably less than a few months away, you two can't start screwing up one of the best teams on our side."

The younger woman still didn't seem too phased with the whole situation arms crossed on her chest. "We'll be fine."

"Don't start quoting him _._ " The older woman snapped, pressing her fingers to her forehead, seemingly not knowing whether she should start preaching or pulling her hair out.

Cortana just stared at her calmly before repeating her last line.

"Haven't you learned anything from our mother?"

"I promise, I won't start creating artificial humans in the labs, okay?" The technician complied raising up her hands a little as a sign of honesty just for the older 'sister' to slap her hands back down.

"Please tell me used protection." Miranda muttered, and unable to help herself asked. "Why now?"

Cortana took a deep breath before answering with a not-so-well-hidden reminiscing smile "Well, yesterday, Johnson made a bet on how many of those candy tomatoes I could fit into my mouth…"

"Johnson started this?" The Lieutenant interrupted with a tone that clearly promised more than some trouble for the Sergeant.

"Well… kind of. You know how he has been pushing Chief for weeks now. I think they are both just bored with this whole waiting thing without being able to do anything." Cortana responded care-freely, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear.

It was clear in Cortana's eyes how the young Lieutenant's self-restraint was put to the test as her older sister breathed through her nose and most obviously counted to ten.

" _Don't_ do this again." Was clearly the last sisterly advice Cortana would be getting before the dark-haired woman left, presumably to give some other _advice_ for one well-known cigarette smoker.

After the door closed a small smile tugged on Cortana's lips. From the start she had gotten quite well along with the Chief despite his rather stoic personality. Underneath their very different personalities they did have few things in common, dislike towards boredom and inclination towards payback being very good examples of that. And now, all that was left was that she could get to tell the news to him before Johnson's cursing would ring through the halls. Two targets in one shot, was it?


End file.
